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Utility cited for windstorm response

Southern California Edison failed to properly investigate power outages and downed poles during the 2011 windstorm that cut electricity to some 440,000 customers, according to a report released Monday. The Public Utilities Commission also faulted the utility for not preserving the necessary evidence such as broken poles for state engineers trying to reconstruct the damage brought on by winds gusting to nearly 100 mph that downed power lines and thousands of trees and branches between Nov. 30 and Dec. 1, 2011. About 440,000 customers, mostly in the San Gabriel Valley, were left in the dark, some for up to a week.

school shooting suspect charged

A 16-year-old student who was teased by his high school classmates for his red hair, social awkwardness and bookish appearance will be charged as an adult in the wounding of a classmate with a shotgun and the alleged effort to target another. Bryan Oliver will face two counts of premeditated attempted murder and three counts of assault with a firearm in the attack Thursday at Taft Union High School. The potential penalty for just one count of premeditated attempted murder with a firearm is 32 years to life, chief deputy district attorney Mark Pafford said.

5 arrested in store hostage drama

Five people were arrested for a takeover holdup of a clothing store in which 14 employees were held hostage, including one who was stabbed and another who was sexually assaulted, police said. Three Los Angeles men are believed to be the gunmen who robbed the Nordstrom Rack store at a mall near the Los Angeles International Airport last week while two women were suspected of helping them after the robbery, Police Chief Charlie Beck said.

Park Service restores graffiti

The National Park Service has restored graffiti on Alcatraz that was painted during the island's occupation by Native Americans in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The graffiti reads “Peace and Freedom Welcome Home of the Free Indian Land” in red letters up to 5 feet high. It had faded and was barely visible before the Park Service undertook a $1.5 million restoration of the rusting tower, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. A group of Native Americans who wanted to turn the facility into a cultural center or university occupied the island in 1969, after the prison closed.

Coroner releases new report on Wood

Some of the bruises found on Natalie Wood's body may have occurred before the actress drowned in the waters off Southern California more than 30 years ago, according to a newly released coroner's report. The 10-page addendum to Wood's 1981 autopsy cites unexplained bruises and scratches on Wood's face and arms as factors that led to officials changing her death certificate last year from a drowning to “drowning and other undetermined factors.” The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department says the investigation into the death is ongoing. Wood, 43, was on a yacht with her actor-husband Robert Wagner, fellow actor Christopher Walken and the boat captain on Thanksgiving weekend in 1981 before somehow ending up in the water.

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